Which clubs are affected by the African cup of nations

Unsavoury scenes tarnished the game between Senegal and Ivory Coast which had to be abandoned in the 72nd minute due to rioting. Didier Drogba netted twice which meant that Ivory Coast were leading 6-2 on aggregate at the time of the riots.

The tournament will be played between January 19th and February 10th 2013 so it doesn’t clash with the World cup. This is a crucial part of the season for many clubs but which Premier league sides will be hit the hardest with the loss of their African stars.

Arsenal will have to cope without forward Gervinho who has been in good form this season having scored 5 in all competitions for the Gunners so far this season. Emmanuel Frimpong, Daniel Boateng and misfit Marouane Chamakh are all set to travel with their respective countries.

Karim El Ahmadi will be travelling with Morocco side which will come as a blow to Aston Villa who aren’t usually affected by this tournament.

This tournament used to decimate Chelsea with the likes of Michael Essien, Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou always departing for the competition. Next year will be manageable for Roberto Di Matteo who will only lose John Obi Mikel and Victor Moses.

Mahamadou Diarra will be the only player departing Fulham for a month who will be playing for Mali in next year’s competition.

Oussama Assaidi will be missing for Liverpool who they signed during the summer for a fee thought to be around £2.4m. He has featured mainly in Europe for Liverpool and in the cup matches.

Manchester City will be without the Toure brothers who will be representing the Ivory Coast. Yaya Toure will be a huge blow to City as he is arguably there most influential player.

Alan Pardew will be quite happy losing Cheick Tiote as this meant that he will be with Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse who won’t be travelling to the tournament next year.

Queens Park Rangers are set to lose Samba Diakite but more worryingly Adel Taraabt will be missing some crucial games. QPR face West Ham, Norwich and Swansea in this time whilst the Moroccan is away.

Tottenham will be without striker Emmanuel Adebayor who hasn’t featured much this season due to the success of England forward Jermain Defoe.

West Bromwich Albion will be without Peter Odemwingie who hasn’t played much this season due to his reckless kick out which earned him a three match ban. They will need Shane Long and Romelu Lukaku to keep up their impressive partnership which has the midlands side sat in sixth.

West Ham will lose Modibo Maiga to Mali and Guy Demel will be travelling with Ivory Coast next year.

Arouna Kone has been involved in the international set up since 2004 and will be with Ivory Coast next year. The striker has made an impressive start at Wigan this season and they will really miss him judging from his early performances.

There is good news for football fans and managers alike however, the tournament will return to its normal slot after this competition which means the next tournament will be in 2015.